Clothing supporting rack



May 24, 1960 J. J. SMITH CLOTHING SUPPORTING RACK Filed May 14, 1958 ATTOKIVU m w m m United States Patent r 2,937,759 CLOTHING SUPPORTING RACK Joseph J. Smith, 126 3rd Ave., Mount Ephraim, NJ.- Filed May 14, 1958, Ser. No. 735,216

3 Claims. (Cl. 211-3 2) This invention relates to clothing supporting devices, and more particularly to a rack for supporting hats and the like.

It is customary practice, when doffing a hat upon entering a place of residence or a place of business, to deposit the hat, along with other articles of clothing, in a closet l a hat mounted onthe rack, and

parent from the following description, when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which .Fig. 1 is a front elevation of one form of hat rack according to my invention,

. Fig. 2 is a perspective view thereof as seen from the left, front corner of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is anend elevation thereof showing the rack mounted on a wall, and also showing, in phantom, a hat mounted on the rack,

Fig. 4 is a front view, on a reduced scale, showing a Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of a clothes tree having a rack according to my invention mounted thereon.

Referring more particularly to thedrawing, there is shown a rack comprising a curved plate 1 and a plurality of tabs 2 integral therewith to provide a unitary rack or on a clothes rack. Frequently,.because'the' articles of clothing placed on a clothes rack are numerous, they are crowded together and little room is left to hang hats safely. This is especially true in the winter time when overcoats, scarves and the like-are bunched on the hooks of clothes trees. As a result, hats placed on such trees are apt to fall off and become soiled; or if they' do not fall off, they are quite apt to become deformed in shape because of the crowded condition.

Asimilar condition is often also found in clothes closets in the home, for example. Here, a shelf is customarily provided for depositing various articles of clothing such as hats, caps, gloves, scarves, etc. Unless care is exercised, these articles of clothing accumulate on the shelf, often in somewhat random and irregular order, to create a crowded condition far from conducive to maintaining a hat in neat, undistorted condition.

The primary object of my invention is to provide an improved rack on which a hat or other article of clothing can be hung safely and neatly, and in a manner to avoid damage thereto.

More particularly, it is an object of my invention to provide an improved hat rack which will support a hat, cap or the like in a manner to aid retention of its shape.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved hat rack as aforesaid which can be hung in a closet, on a wall, on a door, or on a clothes tree at a location where a hat or the like, when placed thereon, will not be subject to contact by other articles of clothing, wherefore the likelihood of the hat becoming dented, crushed, or otherwise deformed or damaged, is practically eliminated.

It is also an object of my invention to provide an improved hat rack as aforesaid which is extremely simple in construction, inexpensive in cost, and highly eflicient in use.

In accordance with one form of my invention, the rack consists of a curved plate shaped to be received within the crown of a hat against the sweatband thereof and curved to substantially conform to the curvature of the crown. The curved plate is formed with one or more integral tabs to provide a simple, unitary structure. By means of the tabs, the device can be mounted on a wall, on a clothes tree, or on any other suitable support, preferably in a location somewhat removed from locations where other articles of clothing can be deposited. A hat hung on such a rack will be safely supported thereon and will retain its shape without danger of being deformed or soiled from contact with other articles.

The novel features of my invention, both as to its construction and manner of use, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will be more readily apstructure. The curved plate 1 is adapted to fit within a hat against the sweatband thereof. The tabs 2 are all disposed in a common plane perpendicular to the plate 1. Each tab 2 is provided withan opening 3 through which a screw or the like 4 can be passed for mounting the rack on a suitable support, such as a wall 5. One of the tabs 3 is preferably located substantially midway between the ends of the curved plate 1 and extends radially outwardly therefrom (i.e., upwardly as seen in the drawing). Two other tabs 3'are located each in proximity to a different one of the ends of the plate 1 and extend therefrom in the aforementioned common plane radially inwardly with respect to the curvature of the plate 1 (i.e., towardthe center of curvature of the plate 1, or downwardly as seen in the drawing). If desired, the'plate 1 may be formed with only the single, upwardly extending tab, or this upwardly extending tab may be omitted and the plate 1 provided with only the two downwardly extending tabs. In any case, the unitary rack can be mounted easily on the wall 5 or other support by means of the screws 4. The plate 1 is curved on a radius such that the plate curvature preferably conforms substantially to the curvature at one end of the crown of a hat 6 to be hung thereon. Thus, the hat will fit fairly snugly on the plate 1 when mounted over the plate 1 with the sweat band of the hat against the plate, as best seen in Fig. 4. It will also be seen, from Figure 4, that the plate 1 has a length which is short compared to the circumferential dimension of the crown of the hat so that it engages only a relatively small portion of the inner circumference of the crown, or along substantially only one end of the crown. This is to facilitate mounting the hat on, and

removing it from, the rack. A rack such as described Hats hung on such racks will not only be well supported to retain their shape, but will be free from interference by such other articles, and therefore they are not apt to be deformed or soiled while thus supported.

In Fig. 5, there is shown a clothes tree 10 with a hat supporting rack 11 according to my invention mounted thereon. The tree 10 has a plurality of books 12 on the vertical column 13 thereof. Clothes such as coats, jackets, dresses, etc. arecustomarily hung on the hooks 12, in known manner, either directly or by means of suitable hangers. One or more racks 11, each with a single, upwardly extending tab 2, for example, can be mounted on the column 13 above the hooks 12 a distance such that, when hats are hung thereon, they will clear the hooks 12' and the clothes hung thereon. Thus, the hats will be firmly supported and will not be interfered with by the clothes therebelow.

From the foregoing description, it will be readily apparent that I have provided a simple, unitary hat rack which can support a hat or the like in a safe manner to avoid its being deformed or soiled by contact from other articles. The rack may be formed of any suitable material, such as metal, plastic, accreted fibers, etc., and preferably in a single piece to provide a unitary structure. It can be mounted on the walls of rooms, closets, cloak rooms, halls, etc., or on clothes tress or the like as above described. Moreover, while I have described the invention primarily with reference to mounting hats and caps thereon, it will be understood that other articles of clothing can also be hung thereon. For example, a jacket or a sweater can be hung thereon by draping the collar thereof over the curved plate 1, an apron can be hung thereon by placing its neck strap over the plate 1, and so on. In any event, since the rack herein described can be used for supporting a varietyof articles, and since various modifications thereof within the spirit of my invention will undoubtedly be apparent, I desire that the foregoing shall be considered as illustrative only, and not in a limiting sense.

I claim as my invention:

1. A unitary hat rack comprising a curved plate adapted to fit within the crown of a hat and on which the hat is adapted to rest to be supported solely thereby, said plate having a curvature conforming substantially to the curvature of the hat crown at one end thereof and being of a length to supportingly engage substantially only said crown end to thereby facilitate mounting of the hat on and removal of the hat from said rack, and at least one tab integral with said plate for mounting said rack on a support, said tab extending from one edge of said plate and being disposed in a plane perpendicular to said plate, and the opposite edge of said plate being free from obstruction.

2. A unitary hat rack according to claim 1 wherein said tab is located substantially midway between the ends of said plate.

3. A unitary hat rack comprising a curved plate adapted to fit within the crown of a hat and on which the hat is adapted to rest to be supported solely thereby, said plate having a curvature conforming substantially to the curvature of the hat crown at one end thereof and being of a length to supportingly engage substantially only said crown end to thereby facilitate mounting of the hat on and removal of the hat from said rack, and a plurality of tabs integral with said plate for mounting said rack on a support, said tabs all extending from one edge of said plate and being all disposed in their entirety in a common plane perpendicular'to said plate, a pair of said tabs being located each in proximity to a different one of the ends of said plate, and the opposite edge of said plate being free from any obstruction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 929,247 Ragnow July 27, 1909 FOREIGN PATENTS 299,289 Great Britain Oct. 25, 1928 816,899 France May 10. 1937 

